Eclipse plug-in installation
We have found it useful to install plug-ins separately from where Eclipse is installed, so you do not lose the plug-ins when you inevitably delete your Eclipse installation to start again, or install a new version. This works better than relying on Eclipse’s self-upgrade working, and is simple when you know how. Here’s how.
The idea for installing plug-ins is to keep each plug-in in its own
directory tree, separate from the Eclipse installation, and other
plug-ins. In this example, we are using Linux and want to install
plug-ins in /usr/local/eclipse-plugins
while Eclipse itself is
installed in the /usr/local/eclipse
directory.
The following instructions are for Eclipse 3.2.
-
In Eclipse, select Help > Software Updates > Find and Install….
-
On the Feature Updates wizard page, select Search for new features to install and click Next.
-
On the Update sites to visit wizard page, click the New Remote Site… button.
-
On the New Update Site dialogue box, enter the plug-in name and update site URL from this page, above, and click OK.
-
On the Update sites to visit wizard page, select only the update site you just created, and click Finish.
-
On the Search results wizard page, select the required features from the list, and click Next.
-
On the Feature licence wizard page, select I accept the terms in the licence agreement, and click Next.
-
On the Installation wizard page, select all of the features in the list and click Change Location….
-
Create and select a new sub-folder of
/usr/local/eclipse-sites/
for the plug-in you are installing. -
On the wizard, click Finish to start downloading.
-
On the Feature verification wizard page, click Install All to install the plug-in.
The crucial step is step 8, where you choose a different plug-in installation location to the default, which is inside the Eclipse installation.